Thanksgiving 2010

"Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow."

 ~ Edward Sandford Martin

This quote means a lot to me.  It is something that I wish to instill into Kristina's soul that we should be appreciative for all that we have, not only on Thanksgiving, but throughout the entire year, every day.  Not a day passes when I don't thank God for the love I have for and receive from my husband and my daughter.  I thank God for the love and health of our family and friends, and for their neverending support even when I can't find the two minutes it takes to make a phone call or drop an e-mail.  I am so appreciative for my 2-hour commute in the morning because at the end of that commute, I have a job that I truly love and another set of family members disguised as co-workers and patients.

Sometimes Thanksgiving is called "Turkey Day" simply because we allow ourselves the opportunity to engorge ourselves with turkey and all the fixings without too much guilt ("we diet tomorrow!").  But we can't let this overshadow the true meaning of the day.

I thank you, Kristina, for the joy you brought me today. Even tho' I had to work and you spent the entire morning and early afternoon with Daddy, your hugs, kisses and "I love you"s when I finally got to hold you just warmed my heart like the first time.  Now you are staying the next two nights at Nana and Grampa's house since Daddy and I have to work Friday and Saturday (no Black Friday shopping for us!).  We miss you already.  Very much.


Someday you will understand the true meaning of Thanksgiving.  Until then, here are a few photos of you...the little girl that our family is blessed and thankful for having you to love.


We love you more than anything,
Mama and Daddy

Hanging out with cousin, Alex (chilly CA day...38 degrees in the morning and 65 in the afternoon!)



Nothing against the turkey, but Kristina LOVES butter and peanut butter with a little toast!

Hanging out with cousin, Griffin.  We have a feeling Kristina will be asking Santa for an iPad!

Our double-fisted dessert Diva!

Griffin and Alex have the patience of angels keeping up with our "angel".

We love you, Kristina!

A Blessed Thanksgiving to All!

The Happiest Place on Earth

Our trip to FL was fantastic.  A full week of family, fun, and rest.  Although we stayed in So. FL the majority of the time, we did travel up to the Orlando area for a whirlwind trip so we could take Kristina to Disney World's Magic Kingdom.  What made it special was that Grammy and Poppy joined us and spent the day seeing a little girl laugh and get excited over the smallest things.

I'll soon write a post about our entire trip to FL but wanted to dedicate this post strictly to Disney.  (Plus, my camera died as we were walking out the Exit Gates of the Magic Kingdom so we had to make a Costco run at the end of the week as I couldn't live any longer without a camera attached to my hand!)

For those of you going with your wee ones, here's a list of Kristina's faves....and others she could live without:

FAVES:
* Dumbo Ride
* Magic Carpet Ride
* Monorail
* Carousel
* It's a Small World
* Toon Town Roller Coaster
* Mickey's House
* Minnie's House
* Mickey's Raceway
* Train (they closed it down 2 minutes before we got in line "due to the Fireworks Show."  UGH!!)

FORGETABOUTIT:
* Pirates of the Caribbean (got to the front of the line and left with screaming child in arms)
* Tiki Room (Kristina loves birds, but the darkness, loud thunder and Tiki Gods ruined it.  More tears.)
* Snow Whites Scarey Adventure Ride
* Fireworks Show at end of day (hard to comfort as the "boomers" could be heard throughout the park)

ON THE FENCE:
* Jungle Boat Ride (too loud - spent the majority of the ride with hands over ears)

I'll let the following photos speak for themselves.

Riding on the Monorail into the Park.  Who-hoo!!

We made it...beautiful day in the 70's and not too crowded!

Daddy, Kristina, Grammy and Poppy enjoying the Magic Carpet ride.

Huge hippo saying hi...and Kristina covering her ears.  "Too loud!"

Kristina enjoying her first "Mickey Ice Cream Pop."  YUM.

Kristina had no problem going right up to Donald Duck.  LOVE this picture!

Family photo in Liberty Square.

Cinderella's Fairy Godmother in person - wow!!!

All of us enjoyed the Carousel.

Favorite Ride (and longest line - 45 min):  DUMBO!!

Taking a nap on Grammy's "shelf".  :)

A rare "quiet" moment with their only Granddaughter.

Admiring her new Mickey Mouse ears!

"It's a Small World Afterall...." - Russia display.



Kristina was so very excited to see "Cindawella's Castle"!!



Making herself at home in Minnie Mouse's house.

A crazy driver hanging out to wave to Daddy!

While the Park rocked with "boomers", one of the shop sales people engaged Kristina in a game to divert her fears.  Very sweet of him.

It truly is wonderful to see "The Happiest Place on Earth" through the eyes of a 3 year old!

Sidenote (for Kristina to reference when she brings her kids someday!):
  Adult Admission:  $82.00 pp + tax
  Child Admission:  $74.00 + tax
  Parking:  $14.00
  Mickey Mouse Ears:   $11.95
  Basic Personalization of ears:  3.00
  Experience:  Priceless

And.....they're off!

This is how my life feels like these days...I wake up to an alarm and the race begins.  I'm in constant motion (even when stuck in LA traffic) until I literally collapse at night.  I saw a post on Facebook (hey, Beth H!) and this reflects our life right now...

My home is filled with toys & has fingerprints on everything. Its never quiet. My hair is usually a mess, makeup is rare, & I'm always tired! But there is LOVE & LAUGHTER here! In 20 years my child won't remember the house or hair but they WILL remember the time we spent together & the love they felt. Your babies only get 1 childhood so make it a good one!

I have given up on getting upset that the house is a mess.  My dream is to have a housekeeper -- even once monthly -- but knowing me, I'd want to clean up before the housekeeper would come over.  So, I live each day to the best and enjoy the moments, no matter if there's dust bunnies hiding or clutter on the island.

And what are we doing tonight????  Going to FL!  Kristina is thrilled about getting on an airplane to see Grammy, Poppy, Buddy (their dog), Uncle Jim, Auntie Erin, Jimmy, Andrew, Finnegan (their dog) and Sugar (new kitty!) as well as any other family we can squeeze into a week.  Jon and I are especially excited because we are going to take Kristina to Disney World (The Magic Kingdom) on Tuesday.  Right now, Kristina is really into Cinderella so we can't wait to share this "first" with her, along with Grammy and Poppy.

Kristina ready for Florida with her "No rules at Grandma's" T-shirt!

As for other things that have been keeping us extremely busy this last month....

Now that Kristina has moved up in class, she now has weekly homework.  What?????  She is THREE years old!  Yes, it takes us about 45 minutes each week but the homework emphasizes letter and number recognition, counting, letter sounds, fine motor coordination, etc.  Kristina takes this very serious....let's hope it sticks.

Working hard at tracing her name.

As soon as she finished, she threw up her arm and yelled "Whoo-hoo!!"  Definitely something picked up in the older class.

In addition, we also have a new member of the Deary Family.  I wish we could say we were adopting again ~ but that's not the case.  Instead, we bought a new car!  I do this once every 10 years and it's now been almost 12 years so I was due.  We looked at so many cars, did the test drives and listened to the salesman's speels...and finally ended up with a Kia Sorento EX V6 --- fully loaded.  Even the Navigation tells me when there's traffic ahead -- which in Los Angeles, is almost always.  I must say, my 2-hour commute in the morning sure is a lot more comfy and "tolerable" listening to satelite music, having my tush warmed by the heated seats (yes, it's been cold here in the am!!), and talking on my phone via the built-in bluetooth.  Kristina LOVES the sun roof and points out all the birds, clouds, the moon, etc.  I drive cars until the wheels fall off and since this one has a 7-year bumper to bumper warranty and 10-year powertrain warranty, I don't have to ask Jon to give up his weekend to work on my car.  Whoo-hooo!!  [throwing my arm up into the air...]

Just got the keys...and now I have to figure out how to use all the gadgets!

Kristina enjoying the sun roof and the new "big car."

So much more to say, just not enough time in the day.  Stay tuned....I'll try to post from FL if the computer gods look down upon us!

Twick or Tweat!!

I'm in awe of those who can blog the night of Halloween and comment of the days' festivities.  Where do you get the energy?

As for us, what a fun family day.  The fact that Halloween fell on a Sunday gave Jon and me the opportunity to spend the entire day with Kristina and fully enjoy the holiday.  Last year, both of us worked that Saturday and raced home just in time to be able to go out Trick or Treating.  This year, we slept in until 10am (God bless our little girl who loves to sleep in.... just like her mama and papa) and then had a leisure breakfast until noon when we headed out to our local recreation center.

The Mason Park Rec Center throws one heck of a party --- and it's all FREE!!  All the kids arrive in costume and get to play games ~ winning either prize tickets or candy.  We met up with Kristina's friend, Kira, and wasted no time "racing rats," "throwing bats," "sinking skulls," and "flinging femur bones."   Hot dogs, slices of pizza, water and drinks are only $1.00 ~ what a bargain!   Lots of fun for everyone.

And what did our little one dress up as?  I was determined to get as much out of the dress that Kristina wore last month at Kendra's wedding so we turned Kristina into an angel.  Three days before Halloween, Kristina decided that she wanted to be a Kangaroo with a baby in her pouch.  We made a deal to look into it for next year but I'll admit, I did look to see if Kangaroo costumes even existed when I was looking for angel "stuff."  No luck.

Without further delay, here's our Russian Angel:



99% angel ~ and watch out for that 1%!!



Daddy helping out with the Eyeball Putt!

Kristina surprised us with the Skull Toss.

And Kristina's favorite -- the Femur Fling.

Even tho' I lost to Kristina, the Rat Race was my fave!

Taking a break from the action to partake in some artistic expression.

Sometimes it's hard for an angel to smile when her teeth are stuck with Tootsie Rolls!

The look of an Angel who has smiled enough for the camera.  "Mooooooooom!"

On the way home, Kristina fell asleep in the car so Jon and I took advantage of the quiet time and went for a drive knowing that a few hours later, we would be walking the neighborhood soliciting for candy.  Six o'clock came around and Uncle Bryce (Jon's brother) arrived to watch our house and hand out candy so that Jon and I could go out with Kristina together.  THANK YOU, BRYCE!!   Kristina was joined by her BFFs Gaby, Kira, and Gaby's cousin, Andrea.   This is the same group of girls who celebrated with Kristina's last year when it was Kristina's first Halloween.

Kristina and Kira...both Kristina's dress (the flower girl dress from Kendra's wedding in September!!) and Kira's pirate costume were handmade by Kira's Grandma.



Kira (3), Kristina (3), Gaby (3), and Andrea (2)



It's tradition -- going to Uncle Marc's and Aunt Rose's house first!

How cute is this???  Yep, BFFs...

Sharing a Kit Kat with Daddy...

This is what 3 little girls look like after TWO HOURS of Trick or Treating.  (Gaby had to go home and if it wasn't for needed potty breaks, these 3 girls would STILL be out there Trick or Treating!)

And a look back a year ago.....   What a difference!

Memories of Halloween, 2009:  Andrea, Gaby, Kira and Kristina